Blue Dragon: Eighth Warrior of Light
by OfferJoyWriting
Summary: About a year after Shu saved the world for the second time, Shu now lives peacefully with Bouquet and Blue Dragon. The 7 warriors of light are all now living normal lives, happily with their Shadows. But one day, someone wanders into town and claims to know them all. Shu is absolutely puzzled when he finds a special visitor at his doorstep, and a new adventure waiting for him.
1. The Return of Zola

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Blue Dragon or any of the characters used in the story (except one of course)

* * *

In a field of white flowers, a girl lay still. Her eyes were shut. A young adult slowly walked over to her and looked down. Her silver hair flowed in the wind. Her beautiful blue eyes looked down upon the girl on the ground.

"Rita," said the silver haired woman, "It's time for us to return." The girl opened her eyes. They were a very dark brown.

* * *

The sun shone down through the window. It was so bright. Shu just had to open his eyes. It's been one whole year since he saved the world...again. But this time, he didn't lose Blue Dragon. No one lost their Shadows. That was the best part. Shu had his best friend back.

Shu sniffed the air. It smelled a lot like bacon and eggs. He got up and got dressed. He wore a whole new outfit now. It consisted of denim shorts, a red t-shirt, and some leather shoes. He took his leather bag from off of the rack, and slipped it on. He ran to the kitchen to find his roommate, Bouquet, cooking breakfast.

"Good morning, sweetie!" she said happily. Shu smiled, trying to hide his gritting teeth. He was still annoyed that Bouquet would call him that. She still had those fantasies of them having babies together and all of that other gross stuff. And he hated it. But he didn't want to hurt Bouquet's fragile feelings.

"Morning, Bouquet, what'cha cooking?" Shu asked. Bouquet took the pan off of the stove and put the bacon and eggs on a plate.

"Your favorite! Bacon and eggs!" she said, smiling. Shu couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks, you're the best!" Shu said. Out of the corner of his eye, Shu could see that Bouquet was blushing and smiling like she always would when he said something like that to her.

"Oh, and don't forget, you'll be going to the school that Kluke teaches so that you can show the kids your Shadow," Bouquet reminded. Shu gulped.

"Um, I am?"

"Did you forget! No wonder you woke up so late! You should go now then, before you miss it. It would be embarrassing to come in late."

Shu hurriedly ate his food, then ran out the door as fast as he could. While he was running, he overheard a couple of women talking about him.

"I can't believe that today is the day. The day that Shu saved the world."

"Yeah, it's been exactly one year. You know, apparently, that same boy and some other children sealed some sort of darkness about three years ago."

"So are you saying that the boy saved the world twice?"

"Yeah, aren't we lucky to have kids like him in this world! Say, what happened to his other friends?"

"Well, his girlfriend…" Shu gritted his teeth, "...lives with him. She's his roommate"

"What about the other girl?"

"Oh, that would be Kluke, right?"

"Yeah, her!"

"She teaches at a school nearby. She teaches those kids who are poor and unfortunate. You know, the ones with no parents mostly."

"That's so sweet. Oh, and I heard about Jiro. Apparently he lives in a cabin in a nearby forest. He trains most of the time, but he visits every now and then."

"And isn't there also that little boy from the Devee Clan? What was his name...Marumaro, I think. Where has he gone off to?"

"He's back at his little village."

"Wow, you know, I never realized we knew so much about these kids."

Shu couldn't agree more. What were they, stalkers? How did they know so much about everyone? But he had no time to think about that now, he had to get to Kluke's school!

* * *

Shu had arrived at the school just in time. Of course he had to make a grand entrance and did some fancy moves. Kluke looked so embarrassed. He always did this kind of stupid stuff, thinking it would impress her. "Alright, kiddos, you ready to see something awesome?" Shu asked. Kluke couldn't help but smile. She sat next to Andropov, a boy who currently lives with her. He used to have many broken bones, but they have all healed up, and the former Independent Flying Squadron member could walk perfectly.

"Alright, we're ready!" Shu said loudly. He started to glow blue. His shadow started to form a dragon. Two seconds later, Blue Dragon emerged from Shu's shadow. "Tada!" Shu shouted. Blue dragon gave a thumbs up. Some of the children started to cry, others were marveling at the sight of a giant blue dragon.

"Hey kids!" Blue Dragon spoke in a menacing voice. The kids that were already crying started to cry more. Kluke gave a nervous smile to Shu, signaling that maybe this was a bad idea. But he knew that this was a brilliant idea.

"Don't worry, he's not gonna hurt you. He only hurts bad guys. He wouldn't dare touch a child!" He reassured

"Unless they really annoyed me!" Blue Dragon growled, eyes glowing menacingly red. Now all of the children were terrified.

"Blue Dragon!" Shu shouted. That's when Kluke started to think, _maybe this really wasn't such a good idea_. Her face flushed red. But not because she was embarrassed, but because she was mad…very mad.

"Shu, get out of my classroom!"

* * *

Meanwhile, atop of a mountain, not far from the city, two figures stood tall. One with long silver hair, and the other with shorter shoulder length hair. A brunette with brown eyes.

"Zola, are you sure they're here?" Rita asked. Zola just looked about the city with hopefulness in her eyes. She never answered the question with words, but her look was enough to answer Rita's question.

"Well, I'm excited to see everyone again!" Rita stated with sparkles in her eyes. Zola glanced over at her and smiled.

"I'm glad. I also cannot wait to see everyone once again. It's been a long time. A very long time."

And with that, they both started down the mountain trail.

* * *

Shu was walking back home, a frown stuck on his face. He couldn't believe that Blue Dragon would ruin his chances with Kluke. Again. Everytime Shu goes and does something to impress her, Blue Dragon has to go and do something to make her mad. He wondered how much Kluke hated him right now.

He opened the door to his house and fell atop of his couch, face first, eyes closed. He heard Bouquet's footsteps behind him. He didn't look up though, because last time that he did, she was in a towel, and Shu still wasn't ready for that kind of stuff, even though she does that kind of stuff all of the time.

"Bouquet, I'm not in a good-"

"Um, Shu. We have a visitor." Her voice shook a little.

Shu pushed himself off of the couch and crossed his arms with his eyes still closed. "Well, tell them to go away!"

"Well, Shu, it's nice to see you too." The voice was all too familiar. Slowly, Shu opened his eyes. There she was. Zola. Plain as day. She was wearing a brown button up shirt and khakis that were scrunched up at the bottom due to her brown hiking boots. On her right hip was a sword sheath. It looked a little different than her old one. It was a little wider, and straighter.

Tears started to stream down Shu's face, and he could see that Bouquet was having the same reaction. "It can't be…" Shu stuttered. Zola gave a warm smile. She walked over to Shu and she stood only an inch or two away from him. She wrapped her arms around him, giving him one of the best hugs that she could manage. Shu couldn't help but hug back.

"Zola!" he cried out. He just sat there and hugged Zola for as long as he could.

* * *

Zola sat down on the couch quietly, her hand in her lap. The whole room was quiet. Shu was sitting next to her, and Bouquet was leaning up against the wall in front of them. Nothing was said for a long time. That was until Shu asked, "How?"

Zola shifted her eyes towards Shu.

"How what?" was her reply.

"How are you here?"

"I've been wondering the same thing," Bouquet added.

Zola looked back at the floor. "I can't tell you."

Shu shot up from the couch. "Why not! You just come barging into my house and you can't even tell me why the hell you're here, or how you got here! You've got some nerve!" He started to cry again.

"Oh, honey, do you want to go take a bath with me?" Bouquet said. She had come over and started to hug her so called "fiance". She was still in her night gown, and Zola could see that Shu felt a little uncomfortable when she did so.

"No, I want answers. And not some stupid ones like 'Oh it's a secret', or 'Oh, it's best that you don't know'. Cut the crap Zola, just give me a real answer!"

Zola's hands balled into fists. "I don't know," she whispered. Shu untensed a bit.

"What?"

"I said I don't know." She said a little louder. Shu just stood there, jaw dropped. Bouquet was still holding on to him. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Bouquet let go of Shu.

"I'll get it!" She tried to say in a happy tone. It came out sounding sadder than it should. She walked over to the door and before she opened it, she tried to put on her best smile, and to be honest, Zola thought that she did pretty good, considering what just happened. She opened the door, and Rita was standing there with some groceries, and a few other stuff as well.

Rita smiled one big happy smile. "Bouquet, it's so great to see you again!" Bouquet looked puzzled.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked. Rita barged in. She set the groceries and other stuff down on the coffee table and smiled.

"Of course you do, don't you remember me?" Bouquet blinked a couple of times, thinking real hard.

"I'm sorry, I really don't remember meeting anyone like you. And I remember everyone that I meet."

Rita's smile started to fade, but she tried to fake one, trying not to look hurt. She turned to Shu. "What about you, Shu, do you remember me?" Shu shook his head, looking puzzled himself. Zola had to save Rita before she burst out into tears herself. She had expected them to remember her, at least a little. She stood up and walked over to her.

"Shu, Bouquet, this is Rita. She's a friend of mine."

"Zola, why don't they remember me?" Rita asked. She gripped onto her purple dress. She must've gotten it while shopping, which hurt Zola a little, because she had made a cute white dress for her all by herself. Sure, it was her first attempt at sewing a dress, but she thought it had looked nice. She even had put a little flower at the corner. But she had to admit, the new dress looked pretty good on her. It's base was a nice lavender color with a darker purple ribbon wrapped around her waist, like a belt. She was wearing black slip on shoes that looked comfy and easy to run in. She also fixed up her hair. For the most part it was straight. But at her neck, some of her hair curved a bit, as if it was trying to make a necklace. It didn't actually go all around her neck to make a necklace, but that would look weird anyway.

She smiled at Shu and Bouquet. Glancing at both, she noticed something. Shu was smitten. He took a good look at her, and he had instantly fell for her. Bouquet was jealous. She was red hot in the face.

"So, Rita was it? How are you today?" She said patting Rita on the back, and really hard too. Zola could see that Rita was a little hurt by it.

"I don't believe it. You really don't remember me." She stuck her hand into the neck of her dress and pulled out a necklace. It was a coppery color, and in the shape up a messed up circle. But not the whole circle. More like a third of a circle. Around the circle edge was many swirly designs. There was a word engraved in it. "Forever".

Something seemed to click in Bouquet's mind. She ran upstairs in a hurry, saying nothing. Only seconds later she came back down with a similar pendant. Hers fit on the top left of Rita's. Hers said "Best".

"Kluke has one too. Where did you get this?" Bouquet asked, baffled.

"I made them. All of them. I made sure to make them fit together uniquely, so that they'd always stand out from the rest." Bouquet put a hand to her mouth. She was shaking a little.

"Who _are_ you?"

* * *

Shu had decided that the whole group needed to be here to hear the explanation of who Rita really was. So he had gone out to go get everyone. In the mean time, Bouquet was making dinner. It was pretty quiet the whole time Shu was gone. But once they all heard the door open, they all rushed over to it to see everyone with Shu. Including Jiro.

Rita smiled, and ran over to him to give him a big hug. "Jiro! I missed you the most! I'm so glad that you're here. You're smart and handsome, tell everyone who I am, please~!" Jiro looked startled and confused.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't think I know you," he answered.

"Not you too!" She whined, looking up at him. He had gotten a lot taller since the last time she saw him. And he had such big muscles! They were so noticeable, due to his dark green tank top. His lighter green pants were scrunched up at the bottom like Zola's, only he had tall leather boots. But as much as she wanted to drool over Jiro, she wanted to figure out why no one remember her.

She glanced over at Kluke, who looked just as confused as everyone else did. But she couldn't help but ask.

"Kluke? Do...do you remember me?" Kluke shook her head.

Rita's eyes started to well up. Bouquet went up next to Kluke and whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was, it surprised her. Kluke reached into the pocket of her blue outfit and pulled out a pendent, similar to the one that Bouquet and Rita had. The third and final piece. They all looked at their pendants, then they fit them together. They fit perfectly to make a perfect circle. "Best Friends Forever"

"I don't remember," Kluke said, her hand to her mouth. She looked at Rita, who was about ready to cry herself, "I don't remember who you are. I'm sorry."

Rita disconnected her pendent from the rest, and due to chain of reaction, the other two girls disconnected theirs as well. Rita was so confused. No one remembered her. There was only one left to ask.

"Where's Marumaro?" Rita asked. Everyone looked at each other, then looked around the room.

Shu, being the good best friend that he was, ran outside with a worried look on his face. "Marumaro!"

* * *

Whew! First Chapter COMPLETE! Hey everybody, how are you? I'm great, thanks! So I've had this idea for this story for a long long time. I absolutely love the anime Blue Dragon, but it's pretty obscure, and it makes me very very sad, because it's a great anime! I hope this first chapter will make you all want to watch it, because if not, there might be spoilers ahead! Reviews are always appreciated.

Thank-you

~OfferJoy


	2. Pegasus: Rita's Shadow!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Blue Dragon or any of its characters. The OC in this story is my own creation, and cannot be used without my permission.

Hey guys, long time no see! And as you can see here, it's a brand new chapter of Blue Dragon!

I'm sorry for waiting so long to post another chapter. This fanfiction was just never really a big focus of mine. But once I got back to writing it, I realized that I had a lot of fun actually sitting down and remembering the days when I actually binged Blue Dragon. It almost made me want to watch it all again. I might watch a couple of episodes, just to get a refresher on the world and things like that.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I'm thinking about writing a lot more again!

* * *

"I'm so lost, maro!" Marumaro shouted towards the sky. Saber Tooth Tiger appeared next to him.

"You do know that I could just hover above the forest and find our way out, right?"

"No, I can't do that, maro! I have to be strong and do this by myself, maro!"

"You're just being stubborn!"

"No I'm not, maro!"

This argument lasted a long time. It was just Marumaro and Saber Tooth Tiger throwing insults at each other, and pointing out each other's flaws. But after a while, Marumaro ran out of breath, and Saber Tooth Tiger claimed victory.

"I just want to get to Jebral, maro." Marumaro complained. He placed his back against a tree and slid down until he was sitting on the ground. Then he let out a long and whiny sigh.

"I'm going to hover over the forest, then I bet I can see where we are going."

"No, You can't, maro!" But even though Saber Tooth Tiger was essentially part of Marumaro, he could not stop him from doing what he wanted. Saber Tooth Tiger ended up hovering over the forest.

"What do you see, maro?" Saber Tooth Tiger hovered back down, a frown plastered to his face.

"Absolutely nothing." Marumaro started to cry waterfalls.

"We're completely lost and alone, maro!" Or at least they thought that they were. Both of them heard a rustle in the woods, which caught both of their attentions.

"Who's out there, maro?" Marumaro shouted, like he usually does.

"We're ready to attack!" Saber Tooth Tiger added. There was a slight whistling sound. Then Marumaro started to feel a little woozy.

"Wow, look at all of the Saber Tooth Tigers! I didn't know there was five of you, maro…"

"Are you okay? Oi, Marumaro. Marumaro!"

But Marumaro was no longer paying attention to Saber Tooth Tiger. He was too busy eying the slim figure off in the distance. Then, everything went to black.

* * *

Shu had issued a search. They needed to find Marumaro. Shu knew him. He could get lost very easily. And even though he has Saber Tooth Tiger, that doesn't really mean that he's able to protect himself all by himself.

"Maybe we're overreacting. Maybe he's just taking his time." Rita said with a hopeful smile. But Shu didn't buy it. He knew Marumaro too well. He turned to everyone, and like he always tended to do, he took the role of leader.

"Alright, we need to split up into groups! Kluke, you come with me,"

"Who made you boss! What if I don't want to come with you?" Kluke complained. This hurt Shu, but he hid it as bet as he could.

"Fine, you can go with Zola then!"

"Fine!"

"Good! Jiro, you're coming with me."

"Right." Jiro didn't complain. After the long travels that they've had together, they've learned to accept each other as friends. Of course, the two still had their silly quarrels every now and then.

"Bouquet, you go with Rita. Keep her safe!"

"Aw, why can't I go with you honey?" Bouquet whined.

"What is with you girls and complaining?" Shu quired aloud. Big mistake.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kluke injected.

"Kluke, we don't have time for this!"

"Argh! C'mon Zola, let's go find stupid Marumaro!" Kluke scoffed, stomping away. Zola looked utterly confused, but did end up following Kluke. Rita smiled and waved her arm forward.

"C'mon, Bouquet! Let's go find Marumaro!" Shu couldn't help but think that she looked so cute doing that. He shook his head. _Stop it, you don't even know her…I think._

He looked over at Jiro, who nodded. They were ready to go as well. The three groups all went in their separate directions, off to look for the little Devee, who was always getting into trouble.

* * *

Kluke was stomping the whole time. She couldn't believe that Shu would say such things. Even though Zola was walking right next to Kluke, she didn't want to talk about it with her. She couldn't trust her. She wanted to trust her so bad. But she just couldn't. Kluke was trying really hard to keep the tears back. Zola had definitely noticed.

"I'm sorry," Zola said, quietly, but loud enough for Kluke to hear. Kluke suddenly stopped stomping.

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry." Zola said a little louder.

"For what?"

"Everything. I did terrible things in the past. I promise, there will be a time when you can trust me again. I promise."

Kluke was speechless. She didn't want Zola to feel bad. But as she thought about it more, more rage started to build up.

"You should be sorry! Do you know how much you hurt Shu? A lot!"

"Funny, you were just mad at him a couple of seconds ago." Zola pointed out. It was true. It was the whole reason she was stomping around instead of walking normally.

"Yeah, well, Shu makes me mad a lot. He's just stupid and dense."

"But he's brave, and not afraid to do what he thinks is right. You should give him a little more credit."

Kluke wanted to be done with this conversation, so she started to walk a little faster. She guessed that Zola got the message, because she didn't bring it back up again.

After a while of walking, they both decided to take a break.

"It feels like we've been walking for a while now, I wonder where we are?"

"I don't know, but I think we deserve a rest, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess we do." Kluke said, ending that conversation. They both sat up against the same tree, one of them on either side. Kluke was about to doze off, when suddenly she heard a rustling noise.

"Did you hear that?" she asked Zola.

Zola just nodded, looking about to see if she could find the thing that made the noise. After about a minute, they both just assumed it was an animal. Kluke then again tried to sleep, but heard the rustling noise one again. This time she stood up and shouted, "Who's there?"

No answer. Then she heard a small whistling noise. Was someone trying to shoot something at her. She heard the noise once again, and whatever it was, hit her this time. She started to feel a little woozy. Eventually, she got the nap she deserved, but not in the way that she wanted. The last thing she saw was Zola falling to the ground.

* * *

Jiro was running. He was ahead of Shu, but only by a little. Shu had gotten a lot better since the last time he had saw him. His speed had definitely increased, and later, he would have to have a battle with him to see if his combat skills were getting better as well. But Jiro didn't want to battle using shadows. He wanted a true hand-to-hand battle.

Although he was happy that he had Minotaur back, he still heavily relied on his own combat skills. It's why he trained so much. And Shu needed to learn how to do so as well.

"Jiro," Shu called, snapping him out of his thoughts, "I think that if we keep going this way, we're just going to hit another town!" Shu pointed out. Jiro thought about the statement for a moment. It was true. He knew these forests very well. And if they kept going in the same direction all of the time, they were going to just find another town. And Shu insists that he's definitely _not_ in a town.

"Fine, then we'll start going this way," Jiro decided, running towards the his left. Shu followed. But something didn't feel right. Jiro looked around. He had been here before. Something changed. He stopped running for a moment. Shu ended up running right past him before slowing himself down.

"Jiro, we don't have time for this!" Shu complained. Jiro had just decided to ignore him. He looked around and noticed that they were standing in a clearing. A clearing that wasn't there before. Someone had been here. There were a few stumps scattered across the place.

_Snap_. The sound of a twig breaking. Jiro swung around, searching for the culprit. Nothing. It might've just been an animal, but there weren't really any animals in these parts of the woods.

"Jiro!" Shu called again. Although Jiro wanted to investigate more, Marumaro was his friend. He was first. They continued in the new direction that Jiro choose. It was very uneventful for the most part, Jiro and Shu didn't really talk to each other. It was a little weird for Jiro, working with Shu. Ever since the first time that he met Shu, there was always a burning hatred for him. But as time went on, Jiro started to feel as though they were being followed.

"Shu, do you sense it too?" Jiro dare asked.

Shu just gave Jiro a quizzical look. "Sense what?" was his answer. A vein popped out, Jiro was sure of it. In return, he stopped once again. He looked around. There was something odd about the place they were standing in. Were they going in circles? Jiro was fairly certain that this was the same clearing that he had encountered before.

"Shu, we've already been here," Jiro pointed out, just in case Shu didn't recognize it, which was probably the case. Shu looked around. He started to think. Jiro could see the wheels turning in his head.

After a while, Shu finally said, "Really?" Jiro facepalmed. There was no way Shu was this stupid. "'Cause this place looks pretty unfamiliar." Well, he was.

Jiro tried his hardest not to start beating Shu senseless.

_Snap_. Another twig snapping. Jiro unsheathed the sword on his back.

"Keep your guard up." That was the one thing that Jiro didn't need to say to Shu. He was already in a battle stance. Maybe he wasn't as stupid as Jiro thought.

"Right," Shu said anyway, giving a nod of acknowledgement.

For a while, they just stood there in their battle stance. There was whistling sounds, but Jiro couldn't quite figure out where they were coming from.

"Jiro," Shu said, his voice a little wobbly.

"Shu, don't lose concentration!" Jiro ordered. But it was much too late.

"There are so many stars!" Shu said.

"Shu? What are you talking about, it's not even sunset yet. Sh…..uuuuu." Jiro didn't know why, but he felt the need to drop his sword and take a nice nap.

* * *

Rita felt so awkward. Bouquet had been so confused during the explanation. Maybe Rita should've waited to show her the pendant. Deep down inside, she knew that no one would remember her. But she had just hoped. She had hoped for a little spark in everyone. Something that would've made them say, "Oh, it's Rita!", or, "Oh, Rita's back!" But to no such avail.

"So…" Rita started, trying to make conversation, "How's your relationship with Shu?"

Bouquet almost stopped in her tracks, making her trip over herself. Rita helped her back up to her feet.

"Well, you know, it's going…"

"Going…?"

"Terribly!" Bouquet admitted loudly.

"Aw, that's terrible, what's going on?"

"He always tries to avoid me when he can. He never wants to take bath with me. He never wants to even hug me! I think he likes Kluke more than me." Rita sighed. Shu always chose the wrong girl. She could just feel it. She knew that Bouquet and Shu were meant to be.

"It never made any sense to me. He always seemed to prioritize Kluke and me. But I know that he should have been going for you the whole time. I know it!"

Bouquet nodded. But then her eyes widened. "Wait...what?" Rita stopped and looked at her.

"You know that you heard every word that I said," Rita answered. Bouquet looked toward the ground.

"I still don't understand," she said, "if we knew you at one point, how come we don't remember you? And yet, we still remember Zola…"

Rita shook her head. "I don't know. And I don't know why I'm here. Why Zola brought me back to you."

Bouquet was ready to cry again. She was such a baby. She stopped in her tracks. Rita had stopped in front of her. Bouquet outstretched her arms and pulled Rita into a hug. Rita's eyes started to well up.

"Bouquet…"

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

Rita wrapped her arms around Bouquet. "It's…it's ok…it's not your fault…I don't think"

There was a rustling sound nearby. Rita pushed Bouquet away. "What's wrong?" she asked. She didn't hear anything. Rita's eyes darted around the forest.

"DUCK!" She yelled, pushed Bouquet to the ground. Something flew right over their heads. A dart maybe? Bouquet still hadn't heard or seen anything.

"Owee…what was that for?!" She yelled. Rita got up. She grabbed Bouquet's hand and started to run in a direction. Which direction? She had no idea. But it was away from whatever was attacking them. While running, they happened to run into some sort of campsite. There were two thick pillars on either side. Tied to the left pole was Zola and Kluke, and tied to the other one was Shu and Jiro.

In the middle of the camp was a big campfire, and roasting on a stick was the little yellow deevee, Marumaro.

"Guys!" Rita shout-whispered. She ran over to Shu and Jiro's pillar, and Bouquet ran over to Kluke and Zola. They both started to work on untying their friends. Bouquet glanced over at Marumaro, who was slowly getting roasted.

"Shouldn't we help Marumaro first?" she asked. Rita obviously didn't hear. She was snapping her fingers in front of Jiro and Shu's faces.

"Hellooo, are you dead?" She started to shake Jiro. "HEY, JIRO, WAKE UP!"

"That's not going to help!" Bouquet shouted. She had just finished untying Kluke and Zola. She dragged them, and lay them on the ground, then she went over to help Marumaro. "We need to hurry, who knows when the things that live here will come back."

But it was much too late. A tribe of scaly and slimy lizard people were standing in shock at the entrance of their camp. One of them dropped the sack they were carrying.

Another ran right up to Rita and stomped on her foot. She grabbed it and started pouncing around in pain. "OW!" A vain started to pop out of her head. "Hey, that was not necessary!" She stomped on the creature's foot, who practically copied what Rita did. It ran back to the group.

One of the weird lizard creatures with a feather head piece and a giant stick that it held as a staff stepped up. It was probably their leader. Rita put her hands on her hips. "Sorry, but we're here to take these people away. We kinda need them." She said.

The lizard lifted his stick up and went to hit Rita. But she grabbed the stick easily. She lifted the stick, causing the lizard to wiggle around, holding on for his dear life. "Oh, so you want to do this the hard way. She spun around, causing the lizard leader to fly off of his stick staff into the distance. The other lizards did not take this lightly. They started to merge with each other.

"Ewww, gross!" Bouquet said, disgusted with the way they were merging. She looked around, assessing the situation. They probably could've taken on a bunch of little gross lizard things, but one big one, she wasn't so sure. Rita seemed like she knew what she was doing when fighting one, but a bigger one would be harder to fight. And Bouquet certainly couldn't fight it, Hippo and herself weren't exactly fighters.

Rita started to glow purple. "Bouquet, stay back, and protect our friends." Bouquet was shocked. Rita's shadow started to wiggle around. It couldn't possibly be!

A horse shape formed in the ground. A shadow, one just like Shu, Kluke, Jiro, herself, and Marumaro had. Out of the ground, a white horse figure with muscled arms and wings wrapped around itself rose from Rita's shadow. "Pegasus!"

The horses wings spread open. Angelic feathers gently floated to the ground. "It's been a long time, Rita. Where have you been?" Pegasus's voice was almost angelic. Her white mane fell nicely to her left side.

"It's a long story. But right now I need your help." Rita pointed at the giant gross lizard creature. Pegasus smirked.

"With pleasure" Pegasus reared her fist back, then threw it at the slimy lizard giant. It toppled back, but it didn't seem too phased. Pegasus kept throwing punches at it.

Bouquet's eyes were about to pop out of her head. She couldn't believe what was happening. Rita, a girl she had only met a couple hours ago, was fighting a giant monster to protect complete strangers. Bouquet herself would do the same for anyone of course, but the way Rita acted towards everyone. It felt…familiar…

Rita pointed towards the lizard menacingly and said, "If you dare touch _any _of my friends, I will not hesitate to destroy you!" she said. "Pegasus, Galloping Punch!"

"Galloping Punch!" Pegasus repeated. She smashed her fists together, and a purple curved shape appeared on her knuckles, almost like a horseshoe, and she started to punch the lizard many, _many_ times, all at the speed of light. Just in that one attack, the lizard creature had taken quite a beating.

Bouquet was surrounded by knocked-out friends. She had no idea what to do. She wanted to help, but she certainly wasn't a fighter. She couldn't do anything. But Rita could.

The lizard like creature quickly grabs ahold of Pegasus' wrists, stopping her from her attack. "You seem to be quite the charmer." Pegasus couldn't help but comment. Rita rolls her eyes. She throws her arms back, Pegasus doing the same. Pegasus lifts her bulky arms into the air, throwing the lizard creature up into the air. Rita jumps onto Pegasus' back, and the two fly up to the creature. Pegasus flies above the lizard and thrusts her fist into its gut, sending it crashing down to the ground.

Bouquet lifts her arms up to guard herself from the oncoming dust and rubble that flew at her. Rita lands on the ground in front of Jiro and Shu. She huddled them close to her body, so she could shield them from the crash as well. Bouquet felt it would be best if she did the same with Zola and Kluke.

Once the dust cleared, all that was left of the giant lizard creature was a bunch of smaller lizards. Still slimy, and still extremely gross. Bouquet glances over to Rita, who seemed to be checking on Jiro in particular.

"Jiro! Jiro, you okay?!" She began to violently shake him once more. "JIRO WAKE UP!"

"T-that's not going to help!" Bouquet scolded.

* * *

Pegasus was large enough to carry everyone back to town. She was silent, but her majestic ways left Bouquet in awe. Rita seemed more concerned with her comrades rather than explaining things to Bouquet. And that was fair.

When arriving back at her home, Bouquet goes to the door in complete silence. Rita stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "You've been really quiet, Bouquet."

Bouquet turns her head to Rita. She opens her mouth to say something, but decides against it. She pushes the door open and steps inside her house. She couldn't see Rita's expression, but she knew she wouldn't like it.

She motions for Rita to come inside of her home. Rita steps inside, and Pegasus squeezes through the doorway, still carrying everyone. Rita points to the couch, and Pegasus sets them down carefully where Rita had pointed to.

Once on the couch, Pegasus bows to the two girls, bending her arm over her chest. "It's been a pleasure meeting you once more, Bouquet. However, I must take my leave now." Before Bouquet could say anything about it, Pegasus disappears back into Rita's shadow. Bouquet glances over to Rita, who stared back at her worriedly, her hand on her hip. Bouquet looks away. "I think…I want to take a bath…"

Before Rita could answer, Bouquet runs upstairs to take a well deserved bath.

* * *

So that was the chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed. Please feel free to Rate and Review, as I would much appreciate the criticism. As I've already said before, I plan on making a comeback to this fanfiction, writing a lot more of it. I don't know how long it will be, but I hope it'll turn out to be really amazing. I hope you enjoyed the read!

Thank you!

~OfferJoy


	3. Remembrance

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Blue Dragon or any of its characters. The OC in this story is my own creation, and cannot be used without my permission.

NOTE: Phew! It has been a very long time since I've uploaded a chapter to this. Man, when was the last time I did that, anyway? O-oh...oh my...the last chapter was published _last year_! That's a really long time... I'm so sorry that you all have had to wait so long. So I won't keep you from the read by rambling on! Please enjoy!

* * *

Jiro's eyes shoot open. With no hesitance, he quickly sits up, frantically looking around as he reaches for his sword. His hand waves over nothing. He reaches behind his back to check for his sheath, finding it to be gone. The world around him starts to become not so blurred. As his vision clears, the first thing his eyes fall upon is the brunette the group has come to know as Rita.

Rita sat in a large chair that sat across from the couch that he sat in. The chair was turned away slightly, but he could still see that she was reading some book. She sat with her legs crossed, and both of her hands gripped the book at the side. She used her left hand to turn the page, slightly shifting her right hand to the spine of the book, so she could keep it steady. Sitting against the chair was Jiro's sword.

Jiro blinked a couple of times out of confusion. Rita glanced over to Jiro. Her once expressionless face quickly changed to one of the widest smiles Jiro had ever seen. "JIRO!" She shuts her book and tosses it aside, jumping into Jiro's arms. "Jiro, Jiro, you're awake!" Jiro didn't hug back. Instead, his arms were spread open, allowing Rita to hug. He was still processing the situation.

"Um…hello…?" The sudden atmosphere change in the room made Jiro feel bad. Rita backs away from Jiro, avoiding any eye contact with him. She stands up and bows apologetically.

"I-I'm…sorry. I forget that things have…changed…quite dramatically." She sits back down in her seat and picks her book back up. "You rested well, right?"

Jiro was unsure how to answer at first. He sighs and crosses his arms, closing his eyes in thought. "Mind explaining to me what happened?"

Rita glances back over to Jiro. She seemed hesitant at first, but that look was soon replaced with a smile. She swings her legs over the arms of the chair, so that she was facing Jiro. She shuts her book closed and sets it aside on a small wooden table. "Well, it all started when I was just a little girl…"

Jiro didn't find this to be very amusing. "I'm serious. The last thing I remember is seeing everything go black while I was in the forest. Now I'm here all of the sudden." He opens his eyes and looks at Rita with them lowered. "I want an explanation."

Rita puffs out her cheeks, looking a bit annoyed with how serious Jiro was. "Well, you're just no fun!" Jiro was about to scold Rita once more. He leans forward in his seat, getting ready to say something, but before he could get Rita on the right track, Rita surprised him by doing it herself. "You were knocked out by these lizard things," her expression changed again to a more nonchalant look. She places her hands on the back of her head and leans back in her seat. Obviously, she forgot there was no backing, so her back hit the other chair arm with a loud thud. "And I saved you."

Jiro had to lean back in his seat, placing his hand on his chin and contemplating how Rita, of all people, saved him. He glances over to Shu and the others.

"Saved us...how?" He looks back to Rita.

"With the help of Pegasus, of course!" She said this as if it was obvious. As if Jiro should know this already. But the name sounded unfamiliar. What did she even mean?

"Pegasus?"

Rita fell silent. She sighed and rolled over into a more comfortable position. "Right, right. You don't remember, do you?"

Jiro frowned at this. "How could I? I don't even know you."

"But you do know me! All of you know me! I was part of the team! I was there for everything! I was there when you beat Nene, I was there when you all surpassed your trials! I was there! I was there!" Rita curled up into a ball on the chair. "I...I was there…"

Jiro sighed. He couldn't deny that Rita knew quite a bit of personal information. He glanced back to his friends on the couch next to him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Rita filled the silence before he could.

"We were all best friends...you all saved me…" Jiro looked back to Rita, listening to her intently. "We met in the middle of the woods. I actually attacked you, believe it or not. I was scared, and I had been attacked before. Shu fought me back, and he ended up beating me. You guys took me to the nearest town and had me treated, even after I just outright attacked you." She chuckled a bit. "I'm fairly certain you weren't too keen on bringing me at first. But Shu must have convinced you somehow. And when I woke up, Zola reached out to me. She offered for me to come along, go on adventures with you. It was so...fulfilling…" She looks to Jiro, eyes watering. "But...then you all had to give up your powers. That's when everything went down. That's when everything changed." She sat up in her seat, taking a deep breath. "You see...I only existed because of all of you." She holds up her hands, lacing her fingers together. "You can say that I'm a creation of all of your bonds. Your friendship, your love for each other, that's what created me." She puts her hands back into her lap. "I shouldn't exist right now, Jiro. But here I am. I was brought back. And I don't know why."

It was a lot for him to take in. He looked at Rita in disbelief. She was there? Then she just...disappeared? What did it all mean? He stood up from his seat, opening his mouth to say something. Yet again he was interrupted, but not by Rita.

"So we just gotta figure out why you're here, right?" Shu asks. Jiro looks over his shoulder to see Shu sitting up, awake and well. He looks back to Rita, whose eyes lit up.

"Shu!" She jumps out of her seat and hugs him, tears streaming down her face.

Shu rubs the back of his head, using his free arm to hug Rita back. "Hehe, what? Didn't expect me to wake up or something?"

Jiro sighs. He takes a seat where Rita was originally sitting, since Rita decided to sit where Jiro was before. "How would we even start looking?"

Rita shakes her head. "I don't know. I would say Zola, but…" She looks over to where the silver-haired woman sat, still knocked out, "she's just as confused as I am." She looks back to Shu, a hopeful smile on her face. "That's why we were hoping you could help."

Shu holds up a finger. "Wait, we don't remember anything about you, right? So does Zola remember anything about you?" Rita's eyes widen. She looks over to Zola, biting her lip.

"Um, well…" She looks back to Shu, scratching her cheek. "You know, I don't think I've ever really thought to ask. She just came to me, and I followed."

Shu crosses his arms. "Aargh, this is getting no where!"

Jiro shoots a glare at him. "Well, what do you expect? It's not like we have much to go on!"

"Well, maybe we should go find some info to go on!"

"And how do you suggest we do that, Shu? Because I'm wide open to suggestions!"

Rita lifted a finger, hoping to intercept the argument, which was heating up quite quickly. "Well, um…"

"Well maybe we could go talk to some people! Maybe someone out there knows who this girl is!"

"And what if they don't? What if that just wastes time? We need to figure out what's going on as soon as possible, we don't know how long her form can last!" Jiro glanced over to Rita. Her face was drained of all color. Obviously, she hadn't been thinking about that at all.

"Form? What the hell are you tal-"

_THUD!_

"KYAAA!" A very loud thud, followed by a screech of equal volume, interrupted the conversation. A scream that sounded a lot like…

"Bouquet!" Rita shoots up from her seat and runs upstairs to the bathroom.

* * *

Marumaro follows Rita, Pegasus, and Bouquet into the house. His back was slumped, and his cheeks were puffed out. The silence was uncomfortable. But he wasn't really sure what to say. Otherwise, he would definitely attempt to break it.

"You've been really quiet, Bouquet."

Rita steps into the house. Marumaro attempts to follow, but is instead met with a door slammed into his face. "H-hey, what's the big idea, maro?!" He stomps his foot. "Let me in!" He attempts to open the door himself, but it was already locked up. He begins to loudly bash on the door. But no one came to answer. He sighs and looks around.

"I'll find another way in, maro!" He stomps down the stairs, glancing around more. Her turns around to get a good look at the entire house. "Hm…" Green vines snaked up the sides of the house. It was in a decorative manner, as all of the surrounding houses had the same decor. There were small spaces between each building, but nothing big enough for Marumaro to fit through. "Guess I'm going to have to climb, maro!" He said proudly, putting his hands on his hips.

After admiring his good skills, he proudly marched to one of the vines. He grasped onto one of them, making sure he had a firm grip before pulling himself up. He didn't get very far before slipping and falling onto his rear end. "Owowowowow!" He growls at himself, getting up and trying again. This time, he makes it to a window on the first floor.

Looking into the window, he could see his friends all on the couch. Across from the couch, the weird girl was sitting in a comfy looking chair, reading a book. He knocks on the window, pressing his face against it. "Let me in, maro!" And still, no one answered. His face flushes red with anger. He continues to bang on the window for a little while, hoping someone would answer. But there wasn't even one glance. "Grrr!" He shimmies to the side, then continues to climb up the vines.

He makes it to the second floor of the house. This time, he attempted to open some windows. The first one: Locked. The second one: Locked. "Why don't any of these ope-WHA!" Third one: Open!

Marumaro tumbles through thick white curtains onto a white tiled floor. He looks up to see steam rolling on the ceiling.

"Hm hm hm~!" A slight humming could be heard to his left. Marumaro's cheeks were no longer red with anger. He slowly looks to his left to see a bath and shower. The violet curtains were closed, but the figure inside of the shower was not hard to mistake.

"Maybe just…one peek?" He whispers to himself, slowly creeping to the shower.

On his way to the shower, he slips and falls, causing a loud _THUD!_

"Huh, who's there?" Bouquet queried. "Shu, honey, did you come to shower with me?" She opens the curtain just as Marumaro was trying to leave.

"KYAAA!" She picks up a toilet brush and points it at Marumaro, threateningly. "Get out, get out!"

* * *

Shu runs after Rita, followed by Jiro. Rita leads them to the bathroom. Instead of knocking, she instantly breaks down the door. "Bouquet, you okay?!" Shu could see Rita's expression quickly turn from worried to enraged. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING IN HERE?!" She kicks Marumaro in the gut and pins him to the floor, just with the sheer force of her kick.

Bouquet looks to Rita with a look of both horror and amazement. "Th-thanks…" Shu could see Bouquet's glance go from Rita to him, and that's when he began to back up.

"Oh, Shu~!" She grabs a towel, wrapping it around herself and running out of the shower to hug Shu. Of course, she pressed herself up against him as hard as she could. "Shu, you came to rescue me~!"

"I-I wouldn't really call this a rescue…"

Bouquet didn't seem to care. She points to Marumaro, who was passed out on the ground. "That creep climbed through the window, just to see me naked!"

Shu knew his best friend. He was desperate to see as much as he could from a woman. But he wasn't so desperate to climb through a window. "Something must have happened…" He quickly shakes his head. "Nevermind that, it's over now! So, um…why don't you get dressed?"

Bouqeut pouted at Shu. "Fine." She pushes everyone out of the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking it tight. "No one come in!"

"No one was planning to!" Rita calls back. She picks Marumaro up by the scruff and heads downstairs. Shu followed after her. "Rita, wait up!"

"Huh?" She glances over her shoulder to Shu. She smiles at him. "What's up, Shu?"

He didn't know why. He couldn't explain it. But that smile gave him butterflies. He clears his throat. "U-um, well, it's just that…" He looks at her with a curious look. "I want to know what your relationship with all of us was like."

Once Rita gets down stairs, she tosses Marumaro on the couch next to Kluke. Zola was gone from her seat. This caught Rita's attention before Shu's question did. She began to look around, hoping to catch sight of Zola, perhaps. When she couldn't find her at first glance, her searching became a bit more frantic and panicky. "Where'd Zola go?"

She began to make her way to the door, but Shu grabbed her arm to stop her. "Zola can take care of herself! I'm sure she's fine. You need to answer my question!" Rita looks to Shu with a frown. She sighs and takes her arm from Shu's grasp.

"That's a bit unlike you, Shu. Normally you would try to go running after Zola, too." She sits back down in the chair. Shu sat down in front of her on the ground, crossing his legs. "My relationship with you all? Well, I guess I'll start with you." She begins to giggle. "I bet you thought I was oblivious to it, but you totally had the biggest crush on me, haha!"

Shu was taken aback. "What?! No way!"

Rita nods, bursting out into laughter. "Yeah! You were so conflicted between me and Kluke." Rita glances over to the sleeping Kluke with a smile. "That got us into all sorts of interesting situations." She points to the knocked out Deevee with a frown. "And him. Don't get me started with _him_." Shu could see that Rita was avoiding using his name. "I hate him. He's disgusting." He figured as much. "He's perverted, rude, and loud, and I don't like it!" She crosses her arms and puffs out her cheeks. "I yelled at him quite a bit for his stupidity." Her angry tone was quickly replaced with a more soothing tone, as her face softened as well. "And Bouquet…Kluke…" She sighs, leaning back in her seat. "They were my best friends. I even gave them trinkets to make sure they would remember." She sadly giggles. "Guess that didn't work out too well, did it?" She closes her eyes. Shu couldn't help but wonder what was going on in her mind. Even though she smiled, and she spoke in such a happy tone, he couldn't help but notice that her eyes were always so sad. She seemed like she always wanted to break down into tears. "And Jiro," Rita continued, "I love him. Nothing more, nothing less." She clasps her hands together, quickly sitting up. "He's my one and only, and I would do anything for him~!" Shu looked at her, disgusted. Her attitude towards Jiro reminded him of a certain girl in his life. She puts her hands back in her lap. "And…I guess that's it!"

Shu scratches his cheek. "Wait a minute…" Rita tilted her head to the side. "What about Zola?"

Rita slapped her hand against her forehead. "Right, Zola!" She puts a finger to her chin, tilting her head to the ground. "Hm…" She tapped her chin a few times. "I…" She looked to Shu, eyes widened in surprise. "I don't remember."

"Huh?! You don't?!"

"Yeah, that is a bit weird, isn't it…?"

Shu gripped his hands into fists. "How could you not remember?"

Suddenly, Rita snapped her fingers. "Oh! I remember some things, actually!"

Shu gave a sigh of relief. He let his body become less tense. "Oh."

"I remember that Zola always had a side interest in me. You six were always priority, but she would always give me a glance every now and then. And I remember…" Her face became darker, more grim. "I remember her being the last thing I saw…after I disappeared." She looked up to Shu. "That's weird. She's also the first thing I saw after I woke up."

Shu stood up. "So maybe Zola does know something." He put his hand to his chin. "Maybe I'll talk to her."

Rita frowns at him. "Is that a good idea? I mean, if she's hiding something from us-"

"Then that means she still hasn't learned her lesson!" Shu says, smiling at Rita brightly. "She should never hide stuff from us! We're all friends, after all."

Rita looks down to the ground. Shu frowns, looking away for a moment. He looks back to Rita, determined to help her. He reaches his hand out to her. "And that means you, too."

Rita looks to Shu, taken aback. She pointed to herself. Shu nods to her. "You're a friend too."

* * *

Oh boy, I sure do hope that was enough to satisfy the thirst of all you Blue Dragon fans out there. I know this chapter wasn't terribly exciting, and next chapter might not be so either (especially because it might not even be published for another year, since that's apparently how I run things, hehe), but I do hope to introduce some bigger conflict into the story soon...soonish!

Maybe possibly probably a battle? But...of what? I guess you'll just have to wait and see, teehee~!

~OfferJoy


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